


it's better with you here

by ashmandalc



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Nudity, Post-Canon, flashback to the final battle, mostly fun friend times but with a bath!, she tries a new one and who better to test it on than him, the shipping is mostly on erend's end, tho aloy has her own way of showing she cares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 02:34:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20900219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashmandalc/pseuds/ashmandalc
Summary: The warm steam from the water made him sleepy as he shed his clothes and stepped in, groaning at tense muscles letting go. He dozed after lazily washing the dirt from his skin, and didn’t hear the door opening, or the quiet steps to his bathroom, the door sliding open, and then a gasp.The gasp got him to turn his head and look, but not much more reaction than that. He hummed at her standing in the doorway, moving his hands slowly to cover anything important. She chuckled, shaking her head and stepping into the room. She made her way past the pile of clothes, and sat down on the floor beside the tub.





	it's better with you here

Erend had heard of her arrival from one of his men, running to find him in the Maizelands. Of course, he’s excited. He wants to run right to her, ask her how she’s been, how her quest went, did she get what she went there for? (_Did she think of him?_ _He knows the answer is very likely no, but he would pretend yes until he heard otherwise._) He stops himself from leaving, however, when he thinks that maybe she’d just like some time to wind down from her journey. She had been gone such a long time. He couldn’t imagine her travels had been easy, then he starts to wonder if she had any new scars. He certainly did. (_A few more bandits that had been roaming around the battleground at night. Some drunken bar brawls that he’d put to a stop with his fists and elbows, a shoulder here, a headbutt there.)_ Erend wants so badly to tell her everything that’s gone on. He wants to show her how he’s grown as a person, the battle they fought so hard to win leaving him a little more confident in his leadership skills.

He recognizes a reactionary thought before he could stop it. He wants to banter with her, he wants to pull her away from the crowds to keep her all to himself. He really, really wants to kiss her. (_He also knows if he tried, she’d rightfully break his nose, and he’d likely thank her._) He misses his friend, her snarky banter, her quiet wit. He misses feeling important in her eyes. There’s no feeling greater than knowing Aloy _Despite_ the Nora (_Thank you, Talanah, for that little bit of insight)_ finds you worthy of her very limited time, when she seeks you out to ask how you’re doing, or what you’ve got planned for the future. When she wants to pick your brain for information that she’s so confident you’ll know. _(Meetings with Avad had never held his attention quite so well before then. He had to make sure, if she came asking him anything, he’d have her answers. He wanted to make her happy_.)

So he stops himself from thinking too hard about her arrival. If she wanted to see him, she’d only need ask. His men knew to tell her anything she wanted to know. (_They know that, in all things, if she so chose, he’d defer to her judgement. She’s so much smarter than everyone else he knows, and he’s...well...he’s Erend. Ersa’s drunk idiot brother. The Muscle. He’s never been accused of being the brains behind any operation._) He goes about his business, setting his armor aside and his tunic, opened and pulled off his shoulders, left to hang from where he tucked it into his pants while he works to help a farmer that had been left without help after the fight. (_So many people, gone. They evacuated the city as best they could, but some people just didn’t want to leave.) _He moves this cart here, lays this brick wall there, raises the trellis where it’s needed most. He works in the fading sunlight until he can hardly see, and his shirt is soaked through from where he’d been wiping the sweat off his brow. His skin is warm and red, his tattoos still a stark contrast in their darkness against him. He pushes the end of the shovel into the ground, his hands crossed over the top as he takes a breather and catalogs his progress for the day.

An absent minded scratching on his chest, and he feels the grime on his skin. Sweat and dust caked into creases, showing just how he’d been moving this whole time. He groans and shakes himself to muster some more energy. He just has to make it home to his bath, then he’s free to not move again for another two days. (_He wants to personally thank Madst for offering to take his place so he can _finally_ get some fucking rest. He hasn’t had a day off in weeks, and he feels it all the way to his marrow. The forge is hot; the Carja sun is hotter, he’d dare say.)_ He moves slowly, muscles aching, back tight with knots, and helps put the tools back in their proper place for the next helper in the morning. He gathers his armor and contemplates putting it back on but the thought of anything touching his sunburned skin right now is already causing mild agony. He resigns himself to carrying the extra weight around until he can dump it on his bedroom floor, the mess a problem for Erend of tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, he’s gonna have to hunt her down. He wants to hear everything she’s willing to say, wants to say something stupid that might help bring back that tired smile he hung his breaths on a year ago before she left. He passes a tavern, then two, then three. Each quietly calls to him, and his blood wants to move _this way, come on just one_. Except it’s never just one with him, is it? His father’s son, through and through, may the bastard rot wherever he is. Ersa chastising him rings in his head, so many times she pulled him from a tavern by his ear, drunk out of his mind, and more than a little flirtatious with the barmaids. He recalls the smacks he received on his head, the spittle flying as she yelled at him for being such a child.

_He’s mentally cataloging the remnants of his injuries, only two weeks after the fight to save the world, physical and mental._

_Ersa is dead. (_Still, forever, never coming back, you lumbering oaf why weren’t you there?)

_Six of his men are dead. His heart ached and part of his soul cried for them, his brothers in arms. His family._

_He’d watched Talanah get hauled away, nearly screeching in agony from the chillwater that had yet to abate on her skin. Her midriff held metalburn spots, acid having sizzled on her until Aloy’s friend Teb had doused her belly with water. A scar would be left on her cheek, he could tell. He also knew she’d wear it with pride._

_Her other friend, Varl, the quiet Nora Brave who kept giving him odd looks. He’d watched Aloy beat on his chest after he fell unconscious in the hopes of waking him from the concussion. Her worried screams still pierced his nightmares sometimes. The Brave’s mother, her usual stoic face, had held a level of worry and care he thought mightn’t be common for her to show, if his other companions’ reactions were anything to go by. Thankfully, Varl pulled through, but it had been touch and go there a bit longer than Erend had liked. He may not like how the Nora treat her, but he can damn well respect the folks doing what they feel they need to to survive, and showing up to help the end of the world from happening? That’s fucking big, and if nothing else, they’ve earned his respect for that alone, if not his courtesy._

_Teb himself had been cut up, beaten, bruised, and more than a little bloodied as he tried to help the wounded escape the machines in time before the Deathbringer shot the wall. He was a quiet guy, but had a big heart, it seemed. Aloy didn’t seem to mind him nearly as much as the other Nora that had come to answer her call to arms. He adds Teb to the list of Nora not on his shitlist, which only consisted of three names._

_Aloy had been covered in cuts, gashes and bruises. Her weird glowing armor was bloodstain on bloodstain, some of it other people’s, most of it hers. Busted lip, red eyes from the metalburn released into the air. An almost broken ankle caused a limp as she trudged along, and he couldn’t help but notice she was holding her shoulder oddly. Her breath sounded funny as it left her chest, and he worried about her ribs. She held herself so tight he couldn’t get a good read on all that was wrong, and of course, she’d sooner jump off a cliff than tell someone she needed help. Not when she felt others deserved that care first. _

_War Chief Sona put on a brave face, suffering through her injuries alongside Aloy as they watched other people get tended to first, never mind that both of them sported almost broken joints, numerous cuts, and some deep bruising. She also had a few raw burns along her skin, likely where a corruptor had tried to take a stab at her._

_If he’d been in his right mind, he’d have carried Aloy to a cot whether she liked it or not. Seeing blood pouring from her wounds was something he didn’t like one bit, and would avoid if he could. Unfortunately, he found himself incapable of carrying his hammer, let alone a human woman who’d likely put up a fight, however weak and tired she might have been at the time. His right bicep was currently open with a new hole, courtesy of a Deathbringer shot. He was lucky it didn’t get the rest of him. His knee was agony for him right now as he limped back to the field, dribbling blood down the leg of his pants. The hip above it held a series of deep cuts from a Longleg’s talons, also pouring blood. Thankfully, his chest had been protected by his _far superior_ Oseram armor (_He’d kiss the maker if he could find her, brilliant old bat. “Nothing beats Oseram steel” indeed.)_ His chest ached from getting pummeled, ribs bruised but otherwise intact. His head wound looked far worse than it was, as they tend to do, but by the look on Avad’s face, Erend knew he looked like a walking corpse. That scarf was done for, he guessed._

_Of course, the Sun King demanded his warriors get preferential treatment, though not just because they’re apparently his favorites. No, he wanted to give the headliners of his and the other armies the consideration they were owed. They’d been the ones on the frontlines, the ones in the thick of it, and Avad was nothing if not the perfect host. _

If there’s one thing Oseram folks know, it’s physical labor. It’s sweat and sore muscles, dirt under their nails, grease on their skin. It’s something he’s good at. It’s something he can look at and measure his progress, and progress was looking pretty good for the evening. But such good progress meant by the time he made it to his home, his body was aching in ways he never knew it could. A slow shuffle to his bedroom to drop his armor off, then to the bath to get some of the grit off of him.

The warm steam from the water made him sleepy as he shed his clothes and stepped in, groaning at tense muscles letting go. He dozed after lazily washing the dirt from his skin, and didn’t hear the door opening, or the quiet steps to his bathroom, the door sliding open, and then a gasp.

The gasp got him to turn his head and look, but not much more reaction than that. He hummed at her standing in the doorway, moving his hands slowly to cover anything important. She chuckled, shaking her head and stepping into the room. She made her way past the pile of clothes, and sat down on the floor beside the tub.

“Heeeey Aloy.”

Aloy grinned. “Hello Erend. I heard you had a hard day. Wanted to make sure you were okay.”

He grunted, shrugging his shoulders then wincing at the sun burn covering them.

“Not really a bad day, just...exhausting. Everything hurts, and I’m _pretty_ sure I can sleep for a week here.”

He felt her fingertips run alongside the line of hair on his scalp.

“You missed some spots,” she murmured.

“Couldn’t get’em. Shoulders hurt too much to lift right now.” His drawl was sleepy, eyes half lidded.

Aloy looked around before grabbing a jar nearby, and a metal cup by his sink. She sat back down beside the tub.

“I’ll do it. Just...keep everything covered.”

“Oh, I’m so ahead of you.” His eyes slid shut when he felt the water from the cup run down his scalp. Her fingers began massaging the soap into his hair, and he groaned.

“Ya know, Aloy, this is not how I thought my night would go. I can’t say I’m disappointed.” His voice was quiet, rumbling. 

She grinned at him. “Don’t get used to this treatment. It’s a special circumstance.”

His tired smile was all he gave her, sighing as she poured more water over his head to rinse. She patted his cheek gently. “Don’t fall asleep yet. You need to get out of the bath. I’ll get some tea made for you while you do that.”

She was gone before he could joke about her seeing him in nothing but a sunburn. It took several minutes of struggling, but he made it out, and to his room where he found some light pants to sleep in, sitting on the edge of his bed to put them on. She made it just in time to see him tying the string at the top before flopping back on his bed. Aloy nudged his foot with her own, giving him time to sit up before handing him the cup.

He sipped it quietly, watching her move around his room comfortably, putting his armor in place, and his boots where he always kept them by the door.

“You don’t have to do that, Aloy. It’s a rough night, and I’m in no way gonna bother cleaning up tonight.”

She shrugged. “Not like I’ve got much else going on.”

He made a noise in his throat, not quite a hum, but not quite words, and nodded. “Can’t argue with you there.”

She propped herself up behind him, another jar in hand, this one smelling of the ferns that grew throughout the city. She started rubbing small amounts on to his skin where the redness burned the worst. It was cool to the touch, and caused a shiver to race down his spine, and a feeling of relief to simmer throughout his body. “You know, one of these days, I’m gonna do something to help _you_ for a change.”

She was quiet as she shifted around until she was standing in front of him. The tips of her fingers dabbed the salve on to his cheeks, nose, and forehead. She helped him move around until he could lay comfortably on his bed.

“You’ve never played nursemaid before, so why now?”

Aloy hummed. “I’ve been getting by with doing grand, world saving gestures to show I care. But I’ve been told it makes me a bit unapproachable. Thought I’d see how it felt to do the little things for once.”

Erend grinned. “Have I been a good test subject?”

She chuckled. “Only the best, Erend.”

He tiredly bounced his fist on the bed. “Finally got you to say I’m good at something.”

“Pft. You’re good at lots of things. Now go to sleep.” She started moving the cover over his stomach, but his hand stopped her for a moment.

“Stay?”

She took a few moments to answer, finishing pulling the cover up when he let her go. She watched him shut his eyes, his mouth going slack. The other side of his bed was empty, and he did ask her to stay. Mind made up, she removed the heaviest of her clothes, keeping her leggings and top on, then laid on her side beside him, slowly reaching out until she could wrap her fingers around his.


End file.
